MARC details
000 -LEADER |
fixed length control field |
04606nam a22003257a 4500 |
003 - CONTROL NUMBER IDENTIFIER |
control field |
OSt |
008 - FIXED-LENGTH DATA ELEMENTS--GENERAL INFORMATION |
fixed length control field |
110721t xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 ita d |
040 ## - CATALOGING SOURCE |
Transcribing agency |
SILC |
041 ## - LANGUAGE CODE |
Language code of spoken, sung, and signed languages |
ita |
Language code of summaries on containers |
eng |
Language code of original languages of main work(s) |
ita |
Written languages, including subtitles, captions and intertitles |
eng |
046 ## - SPECIAL CODED DATES |
Date of original film release |
1974 |
050 ## - LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CALL NUMBER |
Classification number |
PN1997 |
Item number |
.C378 1974 |
100 #a - MAIN ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME |
Personal name |
Roberto Rossellini |
9 (RLIN) |
504 |
245 ## - TITLE STATEMENT |
Title |
Cartesius: Chaos and Order |
Medium |
[videorecording] / |
Statement of responsibility, etc |
Roberto Rossellini |
260 ## - PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC. (IMPRINT) |
Place of publication, distribution, etc |
Italy |
Name of publisher, distributor, etc |
Istituto Luce |
-- |
Orizzonte 2000 |
-- |
RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana |
-- |
Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF) |
Date of publication, distribution, etc |
2008 |
300 ## - PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION |
Extent |
1 videodisc (ca. 162 min.) |
Other physical details |
sound, color. |
Dimensions |
4 3/4 in. |
440 ## - SERIES STATEMENT/ADDED ENTRY--TITLE |
Title |
Eclipse From The Criterion Collection |
Volume number/sequential designation |
Series 14 |
9 (RLIN) |
505 |
Name of part/section of a work |
Rossellini's History Films: Renaissance and Enlightenment |
440 ## - SERIES STATEMENT/ADDED ENTRY--TITLE |
Title |
The Criterion Collection |
520 ## - SUMMARY, ETC. |
Summary, etc |
From case cover:<br/>As profoundly simple as its hero’s famous statement “I think, therefore I am,” Roberto Rossellini’s Cartesius is an intimate, psychological study of obsession and existential crisis. |
Expansion of summary note |
In Roberto Rossellini’s films about them, Descartes, Pascal, and Socrates argue incessantly for the superiority of reason. But in all three cases, their emotional deficiencies cast doubt on the wisdom of their obsession. “Science prevented me from living,” Descartes himself concludes. Still, for Rossellini, it’s “crazies” like these men who make new realities. In Descartes’ day, sensible people questioned the crazies who, for example, claimed the earth moved around the sun, since not only did everyone know the earth stayed still but in this biblical truth they founded their faith, than which nothing was more essential. By what right did self-proclaimed “science” contradict Holy Scripture? René Descartes (1596–1650), a devout Catholic, refused to question his church. But on the other hand, he was stunned by the world’s ignorance and inspired by the gains in knowledge made by science and reason. Therefore he sought reasons to trust reason. Rossellini is moved less by Descartes’ philosophy in the abstract than by the anguish with which he pursues his obsession. Action and drama in Cartesius are entirely inside Descartes’ head, where thought and emotion are locked in deadening struggle—and where perhaps something is amiss. “I’ve closed myself up, alone, in this room for many days,” Descartes says. “I shall close my eyes, I shall close my ears, I shall extinguish my senses . . . spend time only, only with myself.” Here truly is involution. Descartes’ crisis is existential, yet he excavates for salvation deep inside syllogisms. Rossellini said his idea for the movie came from a book by Benedetto Croce, who thought Descartes hopelessly abstract. Yet Rossellini felt that if he could translate the “incredible chaos of the times” into his movie, “viewers would understand immediately why Descartes felt the need to write a Discourse on Method.” Rossellini described Descartes as less likable than Pascal, even “a son of a bitch, a coward, a lazy person. He was quite repulsive, of course, not simpatico. But I don’t care about that. He was intelligent.” Cartesius cost about $130,000 and was financed by Italian and French television. Rossellini had planned to shoot in France, in English, with an American actor playing Descartes, for American television. The French were unhappy with English and an American in a French movie on Descartes. When the smoke cleared in February 1973, the production had moved to locations near Rome, an Italian was playing Descartes (Ugo Cardea), and on the first morning the actors learned they would enunciate brand-new dialogue in French. French television refused the film, however, for lack of authenticity, so, ultimately, it was dubbed into Italian and shown only in Italy. Cardea wanted to proclaim Descartes’ famous line “I think, therefore I am.” But Rossellini said, “Say it as if you’re buying cigarettes. Do you think Descartes was figuring out that moment what he was saying? He’d been thinking about it all his life, which is why he’d say it now without any particular expression.” |
538 ## - SYSTEM DETAILS NOTE |
System details note |
DVD video; Dolby Digital 1.0; monaural; NTSC; Regions 1; 1.33:1 as 4:3 fullscreen. |
546 ## - LANGUAGE NOTE |
Language note |
Italian audio. Optional English Subtitles. |
700 ## - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME |
Personal name |
Roberto Rossellini |
Relator term |
Screenwriter |
-- |
Director |
9 (RLIN) |
479 |
700 ## - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME |
Personal name |
Marcella Mariani |
Relator term |
Screenwriter |
700 ## - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME |
Personal name |
Renzo Rossellini |
Relator term |
Screenwriter |
700 ## - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME |
Personal name |
Luciano Scaffa |
Relator term |
Screenwriter |
700 ## - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME |
Personal name |
Ugo Cardea |
Relator term |
Actor |
700 ## - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME |
Personal name |
Anne Pouchie |
Relator term |
Actor |
700 ## - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME |
Personal name |
Claude Berthy |
Relator term |
Actor |
942 ## - ADDED ENTRY ELEMENTS (KOHA) |
Source of classification or shelving scheme |
Library of Congress Classification |
Item type |
DVD - Video |